We are months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and organizations are moving from response to recovery. Unfortunately, racial inequities in COVID-19 cases, deaths, and economic impacts continue. Black, Latinx, and Native American communities are disproportionately harmed by this crisis. As a result, recovery efforts must address the health and economic crisis with a racial equity lens. Focusing on racial equity during COVID-19 recovery means directing proportional resources toward where the needs are greatest in the community. This helps to stop perpetuating existing inequalities.
GIS Can Support a Racially Equitable Recovery
GIS can help organizations make equitable policy and planning decisions. For example, GIS can help understand who will benefit most from any policy or plan. To exemplify, we will review GIS resources for equitable planning. We will focus on three scenarios:
- Support Women- and/or Minority-Owned Businesses
- Plan Coronavirus Testing Site Locations Equitably
- Evaluate County Readiness for Relaxing Stay-at-Home Measures Equitably
Support Women- and/or Minority-Owned Businesses
During recovery, government and non-profit organizations are supporting small businesses. We know there is a disproportionate economic impact on women– and/or minority-owned businesses. So, it is important to support small business recovery in a racially equitable way. To do so, you must first identify where women- and/or minority-owned businesses are in your community.
The Small Business Impact Survey collects information on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. By surveying, businesses in your region can report how they have been affected by the pandemic. Moreover, the survey asks businesses whether they are women- and/or minority-owned. By using this designation, economic development, and relief groups can filter the survey responses.
The Small Business Impact Dashboard helps track information collected from the survey. By using the dashboard, officials can break down responses by women- and/or minority-owned business owners. By filtering responses, officials can visualize disparities and respond to them. This dashboard helps understand the needs of women- and/or minority-owned businesses. Supporting women- and/or minority-owned businesses is one way to respond to the COVID-19 crisis with equity in mind.
Plan Coronavirus Testing Site Locations Equitably
Access to testing is critical to safely reopening. This blog post walks through Esri’s Coronavirus Testing Sites solution. This solution helps organizations identify at-risk populations. Next, you can locate testing sites that equitably serve areas of greatest need. At-risk populations can be quickly modeled using the Testing Site Allocation project. The risk model includes variables that help you identify racial and socioeconomic vulnerability. Organizations can select variables that align with risk factors specific to their community.
This model helps distribute sites equitably instead of equally across the community. Equitably distributing testing sites means siting according to the greatest need. The model assigns more weight to areas with more at-risk demographic groups. By weighing community risk, vulnerable groups have access in proportion to need. For a quick overview of these tools, you can also watch this 5-minute video.
Finally, testing sites are only viable if residents know where they are and can access them. So, the solution includes a public-facing Testing Sites Locator application. Using the application, members of the public can find testing sites near them.
Evaluate County Readiness for Economic Reopening Equitably
Governments across the U.S. are planning to reopen their economies. When reopening, it is important to do so with a racial equity lens. For a racially equitable COVID-19 recovery, instead of reopening equally, governments can do so equitably. By doing so, organizations consider policy impact to Black and Latinx community members. GIS can help us do this.
This blog post describes how to identify areas where people are at a greater health risk from a reopened economy. It does so by combining race and ethnicity variables into an index. The index also includes data on confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths, population with no health insurance, and healthcare resource capacity. Therefore, the workflow shows us which communities are more at risk from a health and economic standpoint during the reopening.
We Want to Hear From You
How is your organization planning a racially equitable COVID-19 recovery? Please share your success, tips, and challenges by commenting here. In addition, you can share your experience and questions using the GIS for Equity and Social Justice GeoNet Forum.
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